# Sanford Sex Scandal Grows: Did Governor Use Tax Money to Finance Affair?



## Darla (Jun 27, 2009)

*Sanford Sex Scandal Grows: Did Governor Use Tax Money to Finance Affair?*

*Sanford's Office Says Governor Paid for Last Week's Trip Himself, Will Repay State for Previous Trip*

*By HUMA KHAN, SARAH NETTER and ERIC NOE*

June 25, 2009

Facing questions over whether he used taxpayer funds to pay for trips to Argentina to see the woman with whom he admitted having an extramarital affair, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said Thursday that he would repay the state for a 2008 business trip to Buenos Aires.







Correspondent John Berman analyses the cheating trend.

More Photos






_Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina is joined by his wife, Jenny, after winning the Republican_

The dates of that taxpayer-funded trip matched dates on steamy e-mails released Wednesday between the governor and the woman, named Maria, with whom he had an affair. It appears that the two were sexually intimate during the visit.

Sanford said at a press conference Wednesday that it was around that time his friendship with the woman "sparked into something more" than a friendship.






_Maria Belen Chapur, alleged to be Sanford's mistress, reporting from New York after 9/11 attacks._

"While the purpose of this trip was an entirely professional and appropriate business development trip, I made a mistake while I was there in meeting with the woman who I was unfaithful to my wife with," Sanford said in a statement released this afternoon. "That has raised some very legitimate concerns and questions, and as such I am going to reimburse the state for the full cost of the Argentina leg of this trip."

According to the South Carolina Department of Commerce, Sanford's airline tickets cost $8,687, and included flights to different cities in Brazil and Argentina. The only taxpayer funds used for any of the Argentina portion of the trip were for Sanford and Commerce Project Manager Ford Graham, the department said.

The governor's office said he paid for last week's trip -- his most recent visit to Argentina -- from his own pocket, and that "he plans to stay on as governor, and is going to focus on building back the trust of South Carolinians," adding that the governor "is spending time with his family" today.

*Republican Response*

The Republicans' response toward their colleague has been mixed. In a letter expressing his support, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said, "I hope Mark will reconcile with his family and can continue serving as our state's governor."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Sanford Was One of Many Who Criticized Clinton*

*S.C. Gov. Sanford Wasn't the Only One Who Criticized Bill Clinton for His Indiscretions*

*By EMILY FRIEDMAN and DEAN PRAETORIUS*

June 26, 2009






South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is the latest member of the ever-growing club of politicians who have strayed from their wives, as well as the latest in the ever-growing list of politicians who were indignant over President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky and demanded he either resign or be impeached.

Correspondent John Berman analyses the cheating trend.

More Photos

In 1998, Sanford was a Republican congressman from South Carolina when he demanded "moral clarity" from Clinton and called on him to resign. "Very damaging stuff. This one's pretty cut and dried," Sanford told The Post and Courier in September 1998. "I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally [to resign]." So far, Sanford has not indicated that he has any plans to resign as governor.

Sanford is not alone in having his actions contrast with his outrage over Clinton's actions.






*Former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig*

*Craig on Clinton:* Asked by the late Tim Russert on a Jan. 24, 1999, episode of "Meet the Press" whether he thought Clinton should resign, Craig, R-Idaho, did not hesitate to speak his mind. "He should resign. He should've resigned months ago, but he will never resign. He doesn't respect the presidency," said Craig.

In August 2007, Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct stemming from an arrest in a men's restroom at a Minneapolis-St. Paul airport for soliciting sex in June. He later held a news conference in August to say, "Let me be clear. I am not gay. I never have been gay." Craig never resigned his seat, but declined to seek re-election in 2008.






*Former Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards*

*Edwards on Clinton:* Edwards, a North Carolina Democratic congressman during the 1999 impeachment trial, said on the House floor that Clinton's affair with Lewinsky showed "a remarkable disrespect for his office, for the moral dimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious daughter. It is breathtaking to me the level to which that disrespect has risen."

In an August 2008 interview with ABC News, Edwards admitted to repeatedly lying during the campaign for president about having an affair with Rielle Hunter, a video producer who worked for Edwards' campaign, while his wife was battling terminal cancer.




Mark Sanford, John Edwards and Newt Gingrich spoke out against Bill Clinton during his sex scandal, but had extramarital affairs themselves.

(Getty Images)

More Photos






*Former Louisiana Rep. Robert Livingston*

*Livingston on Clinton:* "You, sir, may resign your post," said Livingston, R-La., who was poised to take over as House speaker.

On the morning that the House was scheduled to take an impeachment vote, Livingston shocked his colleagues by announcing that he would resign his seat because he, too, had had an affair. "I must set the example that I hope President Clinton will follow."

*Former House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde*

*Hyde on Clinton:* During the impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives, Hyde was the lead prosecutor and one of Clinton's most outspoken critics. Hyde, R-Ill., said the president should be impeached because he "trivializes, ignores and shreds the sanctity of the oath" of office.

During the impeachment proceedings it was revealed that Hyde had cheated on his wife during the 1960s. He dismissed the revelation by saying that it was a "youthful indiscretion." He was 42 at the time of the affair.






*Nevada Sen. John Ensign*

*Ensign on Clinton:* Sen. Ensign, R-Nev., criticized Clinton for the strain he put on both his family and his Cabinet, while calling for his resignation. He characterized the scandal as "an embarrassing moment for the country." He added that Clinton "has no credibility left."

At a press conference June 16, the 51-year-old senator admitted to his affair with the wife of a close family friend. A watchdog group has called for an investigation into allegations that he funneled campaign money to his paramour.






*Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich*

*Gingrich on Clinton:* Gingrich was speaker of the House at the time and was critical of Clinton during the impeachment hearings.

In 2001, Gingrich, R-Ga., admitted he was having an affair with a young aide during the impeachment proceedings while married to his second wife. Gingrich told right wing Christian leader James Dobson that his fling was different from Clinton's because the president lied about it while under oath.






*Former House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay*

*DeLay on Clinton:* DeLay strongly pushed for Clinton's impeachment and even cited material that was not released to the public at the time of the proceedings, to further public support for the impeachment.

In his 2007 memoirs, DeLay, R-Texas, revealed a secret: he had had an extramarital affair that pre-dated Clinton's impeachment. He saw no hypocrisy, however. "I was no longer committing adultery by that time, the impeachment trial. There's a big difference," DeLay wrote in his book "No Retreat, No Surrender."

~~~~~~~~~

_*Hypocrites!*_


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## Aprill (Jun 27, 2009)

haha like duh he used their money.

And I have always found that the people are big advocates about something, or hate or criticize someone deeply and persistently, they too are in the same boat and dont want others to know. Our Mayor was supremo against porn shops and strippers, and before his death, came the pictures of him and 3 scantly dressed strippers....never fails shit smells


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## Adrienne (Jun 27, 2009)

Ugh, I can't wait for him to resign. What an effin hypocrite. Fact is I don't care if reimbursed the state ten times what it cost, it was unethical to take that money in the first place. And he had the nerve to apologize to the mistress first above his wife and children!!!


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## Karren (Jun 27, 2009)

He and the Illinois governor should start a club.. Stupid ex-governors of america!! Idiots!!


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## Darla (Jun 27, 2009)

Let's not forget Eliott Spitzer of NY






On March 10, 2008, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said, "I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family." That day a federal investigation named Spitzer as a client in a high-paying New York prostitution ring. Spitzer resigned two days later as details emerged about how he paid for prostitute Ashley Dupre. David Paterson succeeded Spitzer and within days of taking office, he, too admitted to having affairs.

(Reuters)






A 2001 photo shows future New Jersey Republican Governor James McGreevey posing for a portrait at a fundraising event with Golan Cipel, who became a member of McGreevey's staff. In 2004, a sex scandal with Cipel pushed McGreevey out of office. McGreevey and his wife Dina Matos McGreevey subsequently divorced. Both wrote books about the saga. "He was a great actor," Matos McGreevey later told Oprah Winfrey. "He kept these two worlds separate and was a master at it."

(Photo Haven/Getty Images)






Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani married Judith Nathan in 2003 after the mayor's messy public divorce from Donna Hanover. Nathan and Giuliani, seen here leaving Buckingham Palace Feb. 13, 2002, remain together.

(Kirtsy Wigglesworth/Reuters)

nothing new






A scandalous moment came in October 1974 when longtime Congressman Wilbur D. Mills, D-Ark., was pulled over by Washington, D.C. police. In the car with him was stripper Fanne Foxe, who ran from the car and into the Tidal Basin. Despite the incident, Mills, married 40 years at the time, was re-elected in November. But a December trip to Boston did him in when he was seen onstage at a club with Foxe. Mills stepped down as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and checked himself into a hospital to recharge. He died in 1992.

(AP Photo)






Former House Judiciary Committee chairman Henry Hyde and a woman identified as Cherie Snodgrass are shown at a Chicago nightspot in the late 1960s in this photo supplied by Salon. It wasn't until 1998 that news of the affair surfaced, when Salon magazine posted a story on its Web site, alleging that Hyde had a five-year extramarital affair with Snodgrass decades earlier while he was a member of the Illinois House. Like others, revelations about Hyde surfaced during Clinton's impeachment proceedings. "The statute of limitations has long since passed on my youthful indiscretions," Hyde said in a statement.

(AP Photos)






Cheating politicians are nothing new. Thomas Jefferson is believed to have had an affair with a slave at Monticello named Sally Hemings. Jefferson never commented on the allegations that dogged him as president and that persist centuries later. Hemings' children believed their father was indeed Jefferson.

(Engraving by A B Hall of New York/Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)


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## StereoXGirl (Jun 27, 2009)

I have no idea how any of these men could have possibly thought that what they were doing was ok. Especially in the positions that they were in, being in the public eye and all...

It's disgusting, really...


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## Darla (Jul 2, 2009)

*S.C. first lady calls husband's actions 'inexcusable'*

South Carolina's first lady says Gov. Mark Sanford's actions are `inexcusable' but she is willing to forgive him.

Jenny Sanford on Thursday made her first public statement since her husband revealed in Associated Press interviews that he believes his Argentine mistress is his soul mate but he is trying to fall back in love with his wife.

In her statement, Jenny Sanford says it is up to her husband to save their 20-year marriage. She says she is still angry with him and he will deal with the consequences of his actions for a long while.

The first lady says Mark Sanford must regain the trust of his family and the people of South Carolina, but she makes no guarantee he will be able to do it.

The governor plans to leave Friday morning to spend the holiday weekend with his wife and four sons in Florida.

CTV.ca | S.C. first lady calls husband's actions 'inexcusable'


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## Adrienne (Jul 2, 2009)

She's still willing to forgive him?! That's mighty generous of her. I couldn't deal with a man who claims some other woman is his soulmate but he's trying to settle for me just bc I'm his wife. And this isn't even including all the other "casual encounters" he claims he's had in the past 20 years! She doesn't even need him and thank goodness she's not putting a public face to "support" him as he confesses everything. Let him drown in his own humiliation.


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## pinksugar (Jul 2, 2009)

there is no way I could forgive him. Private embarrassment is bad enough, but a massively public humiliation? totally not my scene.

I can't believe how many of them have done this. What absolute B**tards


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